Ridley Scott is already working on the sequel to Alien: Covenant

Ridley Scott isn’t wasting any time getting started on the next instalment of the Alien franchise. With Alien: Covenant only just arriving in theatres, Scott revealed to IGN UK that he’s currently working on the screenplay for its sequel, which is to head into production in 2018.

“We’re writing [a sequel] now, as we speak. I’ll be filming that within 14 months,” Scott said. He also revealed more details about Neill Blomkamp’s mysteriously scrapped Alien sequel, which he suggests was to be titled ‘Awakening’.

“They wanted to do Alien, er, Awakening – Neill Blomkamp… I said fine. I was going to be the producer. If I could have, I would have,” Scott has revealed. “Except I do question – why have both [Blomkamp’s Alien and Scott’s Alien] out there? It seems like shooting your big toe off – it doesn’t make sense. But they didn’t go forward with it, Fox, so I just kind of kept out of it.”

Discussing the future of the franchise, Scott made it clear that we can look forward to him keeping hold of the directorial reins for a while longer, just as long as each sequel maintain the high standard expected of him. “It’s good when it’s good,” he said, “if the sequel’s good, then it’s worthwhile.”

The 2018 production date of the (as yet untitled) Covenant follow-up might allow the director time to squeeze in one of the many other projects he currently has in development.

He’s attached to Sony’s All the Money in the World, a Getty kidnapping drama, in which Natalie Portman is rumoured to be cast, and he’s also optioned Don Winslow’s novel ‘The Cartel’, which Leonardo DiCaprio is rumoured to be interested in. In any case, Scott is looking at a busy 2018, and we can’t wait to see what he’s got in store.

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